


The Kite Game

by TofuTouhou



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2019-09-29 19:23:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 16,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17209484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TofuTouhou/pseuds/TofuTouhou
Summary: The 25 girls of the BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! Franchise are transported to a new world, and are instructed to keep their own kite's flying to avoid their death. They must complete missions in order to reach a specified goal of string needed for their kite, so they may escape this new world and return to normal life. But, if and when they escape, will it really be normal again? Who will escape?





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: A new world

  


“Our the girls ready?”

  


“Yes, Sir. They are all together, unconcious.”

  


“Shall we begin?” 

  


“Sir, yes sir.”

  


The 25 girls awaken. They are in a white and cloudy room, completely barren. It appears as if there are no flooring, even, yet it appears there is at the same time. A shadowy figure appears in front of them as they all gather their bearings.

  


“Hello, girls. You have now entered a new world. A new state of being. A new life.” The shadowy figure’s eyes glow purple. The shadowy figure continues its speech. “Look at your wrists.”

  


The girls follow the direction given to them, and find a wristband-like device on their wrist. 

The wirst band reads: “Kite string: 800”

“This Kite String, or KS the wristband speaks about, is your life force. To survive in this world, you must keep your kite flying. To do this, Tasks must be completed, or you must find new ways of obtaining more KS.”

One of the girls speaks up. 

“Can you please clarify what you mean by life force?” This girl is Yukina Minato. 

“It’s as simple as that. Your KS reaches 0, you die. You all will be given small areas of your own. This is where your Kite will fly, and where you can watch over it. To warp to this area, simply tap your wristband with your pinky finger and thumb simultaneously. In this new world, you can do many things. However, the only people within it will be the 25 of you, and approximately 100 other people native to this world. All 25 of you now have access to special abilities. You may channel these abilities using your batons.” The shadowy figures snaps, and his eyes glow raidantly once more. Batons appear in front of the girls, with each baton having it’s own color.

“Your batons are differently colored to represent you all as individuals. When I release you into the world, you will be in your own area. There you will be instructed on what to do next. Good luck, girls.” The shadowy figure disappears in a cloud of smoke. 

  


“So… now what?” Kasumi casually questions, while looking down at her bright red baton. 

“You’re just going to be okay with that? Not even confused! Kasumi, you moron! Do you understand what is even going on? Because I sure as hell don’t!” Arisa gesticulates with her lavender baton, threatening to hit Kasumi with it. 

  


Meanwhile, in one corner of the room, Aya is crying.

  


“What do we do?! What is happening?” Aya panics heavily.

“Calm down, Aya. I’m sure we’ll be okay!” Hina gives Aya a thumbs up. Chisato, Kanon, Misaki and Kokoro come to comfort Aya as well.

“We’ll be okay, Aya. No need to panic.” Chisato says, trying to hide her own fear.

“Well, if we have each other I’m sure nothing bad will happen…!” Kanon smiles. 

“That’s the spirit, Kanon! The whole world needs to smile! Happy! Luc-” Misaki cuts Kokoro off.

“Now isn’t the time, Kokoro.” Misaki looks at Kokoro sheepishly, and pats Aya on the back.

The shadowy figure reappears in the same spot.

“You will all be released now. Good luck.”

Just like that, the room is left empty.

  


Tsugumi blinks, and she finds herself in a forest. There is a kite swaying in the air, and the forest trees are also swaying, perfectly in sync with the kite. Tsugumi holds her baton in front of her. 

“What a pretty yellow!” Tsugumi exclaims. She then lowers her arm and looks around the forest.

“So this is my area? I guess the other girls are in similar places as well. I hope they are okay! For now I should focus on that instruction we’re supposed to receive, though. My wrist still says I have 800 KS, So it looks like everything is fine.”

A transparent screen appears in front of Tsugumi, and looks almost as if there is writing in the air. Tsugumi reads it to herself aloud. 

“Welcome to your residence. This will be called your Castle. Teleport to it any time by touching the wristband on your arm with your pinky and thumb simultaneously. Do the same to teleport back the Yuhngarde, the world you will be in for the next long while. To gather Kite string, you will have several missions to complete. You can access these missions anytime by saying the words ‘Yuhngarde board’ aloud. You may not complete these missions with other people. There are also ways to lose Kite string. The screen will show them once you finish reading this message. One more note… killing others will let you gain KS and put you ahead of the game. You may also steal KS from others by infiltrating their Castles and attacking their kites. You must reach a goal of 3000 KS to escape this world and reach normal life. Time flows 900 times slower in this world then in your regular realm, so 900 days in here is one day in your regular life.” Tsugumi stands silently, trying to process what she has just been told. Before she can, however, the screen updates. Tsugumi continues to read it.

“The ways you can lose KS is simple. 

  1. If someone steals your KS 
  2. If you fail a mission. (Loss varies)
  3. If you help another complete their mission. (-300 KS)
  4. If you try to harm any devices such as your baton, wristband, kite or if you harm your Castle. (-500 KS)



Every 2 hours, every girl will lose 200 KS. Stay on top of your kites. Good luck. One more thing: You will have a map you can look at by touching your wristband with your index finger. This shows you locations you have visited in Yuhngarde, and the location of each girl (labeled with their faces).”

_ I… what do I even do…? I guess I can look at my map… _ Tsugumi thinks to herself. She opens her map.

“Ah!” Tsugumi can’t contain her happiness. She goes back to thinking through her inside thoughts.  _ The others are all okay! I can see Ran, and Moca, and Eve, and Kanon, Himari and Tomoe too! I’m glad everyone is okay but… _

_ How long will it stay this way? _


	2. An Uncomfortable Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters won't be coming out periodically, so bare with me on release dates. They won't be very consistent. I'd also appreciate feedback! Enjoy.

Chapter 2: Uncomfortable start.  
“The girls don’t know how to take it. Perfect. This is excellent.” 

“Grandmaster.” The shadowy figure grins.

“Yes?”

“When should I… do the thing?”

“Not yet… I’ll cue you when. It is still much to soon.”

 

“Oof.” Yukina lands on her butt, confused. “Ouch. I should have known teleporting to and fro wouldn’t be that easy.” Yukina finds herself on a cliffside, overlooking a town. Yukina opens her map. A blue square is projected from her wristband.  
“Who is near me? I should be careful. I should also check in on anyone near me as well.”  
Yukina finds her own face, located on the bottom left corner of the map. She sees that the town she is looking at is named “Gohsendt”. She sees the faces of Hina and Sayo together, as well as Ako, Saya and Rimi scattered around the outskirts of Gohsendt. She looks at the blank spaces of the map as well. She finds Kanon, Tsugumi and Aya in the middle of the map but not near each other. Kokoro’s icon is gliding along the right side of the map at a steady pace. Misaki and Tomoe both seem to be heading to the direction of Gohsendt. Tomoe most likely trying to reach Ako. Chisato, Lisa and Kaoru are grouped up near the top right of the map. Kasumi and Arisa are along the left edge of the map while Tae, Moca and Ran are all grouped together on the right, staying planted in Kokoro’s dust. Hagumi and Maya both seem to be exploring an area somewhere in the south east, and Eve, Rinko and Himari are all seemingly following Kokoro, potentially heading for Maya and Hagumi as well.  
“I see. I guess I will explore Gohsendt. Maybe run into others as well. Yuhngarde board.”  
Missions: Retrieve goods for Gohsendt villager: 450 KS  
Find other girl participating in the Kite game: 100 KS  
Find 2 new areas: 400 KS  
“Kite game? Ugh. Game? How sickening. Let’s go already, I guess.” Yukina climbs down the cliffside, and enters Gohsendt. 

Meanwhile… 

“Sayo! Sis! I missed you so much!”  
The Hikawa twins are reuniting.  
“Hi, Hina. Nice to see you too.”  
Hina interrupts her hug with Sayo, and looks surprised.  
“Uh… My wristband says I have 900 now!”  
“KS?”  
“Yeah! I’m good at this! Hehe!”  
“Mine says that too. Let’s see our missions.”  
The twins simultaneously call for their missions.  
“It says I completed a mission! Did you, too, Sayo?”  
“Seems so. Hina, have you seen the map yet?”  
“Yeah! Yukina is going into the village, and I remember seeing Ako, Saya and Rimi around here!”  
“Wow. Say, let’s go into the village. Maybe something useful will be there. We have a mission there too. Something about gardening?”  
“Really? Mine says I have to find someone named Elle.”  
“Oh. I guess that mission is different for the others then. Let’s go in and explore a bit together. Then let’s split up and try to do our missions, okay? Remember, we will lose KS if we help each other. I don’t know if I believe that whole spiel about death… but I’ll be safe.”  
“Hey sis… can we make a pinky promise?”  
Hina looks into Sayo’s eyes, ready to cry.  
“W-what is it, Hina? Out with it.”  
“Promise me… You won’t ever leave me.”  
“I told you, though. We can’t help each other.”  
“Not that… that’s not what I mean… Don’t leave me alone in this world, okay sis? Don’t… die.”  
Sayo looks at Hina sadly.  
“Understood. I may be only older by minutes, but I’m still your older sister, And I’ll always be here, okay?” Sayo tries to crack a smile at Hina. She never has been the type that smiles easily. Never that photogenic either. But for Hina, even though Hina can be extremely bothersome, she will still smile for her. She has to.  
“Thanks, Sis! I… I love you, sis.”  
“Don’t worry, Hina.” We’ll do this.”  
“Yeah!”  
The twins go off into Gohsendt together, and try to complete their missions. Meanwhile…

“Weeeee! This is so much fun!”  
Somehow, Kokoro figured out how to fly. She waved around her bright, neon yellow baton, or whatever the magical air words called it, and next thing she knew she was flying.  
“Haha! Wee!” Kokoro keeps flying, then spots Hagumi and Maya on a wintery mountain.  
“Oh! I see Hagumi! And there is that Maya girl from Pastel Packets! Or was it Pastel Shallots? Whatever it’s called! Yay! Oh?” A ‘boop’-y sound came from Kokoro’s wristband , as she would call the noise, and saw she now had 900 KS.  
“Oh! I forgot about that KS thingy. But first!” Kokoro breathed in heavily.  
“HAAAAGUUUUUMIIIII! MAAAAAAAYAAAAAAA!”  
The two girls seem to have heard Kokoro, and Kokoro flew to their destination. She was able to slow down, and land safely next to Hagumi and Maya.  
“Maya! It’s Kokoro!”  
“Hi Kokoro!”  
Maya waves gently to the blonde haired girl.  
“Hi Maya. Hi Hagumi. How are you guys?”  
“Great!” Maya and Hagumi both respond.  
“Yuhngarde board!” Maya shouts.  
“Looks like I need to find some sort of charm on this mountain.” Maya thinks aloud.  
“I’ll help!” Kokoro immediately offers, but then Hagumi sweetly shuts her down.  
“We can’t, remember, Kokoro! That makes us lose the Kite stuff!”  
“Oh, right… well, good luck, Maya! Yuhngarde board!” Kokoro analyzes her mission.  
“I need to touch a red flag on Glacier Peak! Where is that?”  
“That is this mountain, Kokoro! Good luck! Hey, did you find any other places on your way here?”  
Kokoro outstretches her arm. Hagumi sees the “900 KS” On Kokoro’s wristband.  
“Oh, okay! I guess not?”  
“Nope! But I saw some sort of tower in the distance. I think I saw Kanon there! You can go there if you’re trying to do finding places mission or whatever.”  
“Yeah! I actually already completed one of my missions. I had to run around some big tree. See?” Hagumi extends her arm to show Kokoro the big “1350 KS” On her wristband.  
“Congrats, Hagumi! Tell Kanon I said Hi! Also, to get there fast, I think you can fly using the sticks we got!”  
“Yeah, I saw you zooming around.”  
“I kinda just flicked the thing around a little and it started sparkling. Then I went all vroom! Vroom! And zooooom!”  
“Ooh, lemme try!” Hagumi waved her orange baton around, and it started to sparkle. Only, instead of flying, it shot a small rock.  
“Woah, Hagumi! I don’t think that’s how you fly.”  
“Lemme try again!” Hagumi flicked her wrist toward the tower Kokoro was talking about, and she started floating. Just like that, she was well on her way to the tower, “zooming” all over.  
“Take care!” Kokoro yelled to Hagumi from a distance. “Let’s see… a flag. Ah! I think I see one on the edge there!” Sure enough, a red flag was barely on the mountain, looking like it was about to fall.  
“Should be simple enough. Boop!” Kokoro reached for the flag, and her wristband read “1350 KS” On it. And then she couldn’t see it. Because she was plummeting down the side of the mountain.  
“Aahhhhh! Uhhh baton thing! Go!” Kokoro desperately flicked her wrist toward the ground, then flew towards the ground even faster now. Kokoro braced herself with her arms, which triggered her baton to create a mini barrier in front of her. Kokoro crashed into the ground, though her fall was broken because of the barrier. The momentum was still enough to launch her, though, and she had been thrown into a tree.  
“Ow… That hurts really bad!” Kokoro now bled on her right arm, same arm as the wristband. She looked at her wristband, and it now had “850 KS” on it.  
“Aww… I lost some Kite stuff. Now I need to do some more things! And my arm really hurts!”  
Kokoro sat there, at the trunk of a tree, bewildered at what had just happened.


	3. Getting into it, and out of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Here's the next chapter~

Chapter 3: Getting into it, And out of it.

“Looks like the girls are starting to get into the groove of things. May I disrupt them, Grandmaster?”

“I told you, not yet. I will let you know when the time is right. For now, you may just update their missions. The second hour is about to end as well.”

“Sir, yes sir.”

 

“Hey Yukina.”

“Yes, Lisa?” Yukina and Lisa had met up in Gohsendt.

“Kokoro’s been traveling a lot. I saw her to the bottom right corner of the map, but then she quickly shifted to the left of there. You think she is alright?”

“I’m sure she is. That girl has a knack for not dying. Somehow.”

“Haha. What’s your KS?”

“Now I have 1350. After completing those missions the KS I have now seems to be pretty comfortable.”

“I see! I have 1850. I discovered some clearing in the forest called “Dryad’s den”. I got in and got out real quick, so I don’t really know what’s up with the whole place. You should probably check it out when we split up!”

“Good idea, Lisa. Though, I think we should kind of go north a bit. We might run into Kasumi and Arisa, and find a new area.”

“Sure! Let’s bounce, then. Have you figured out how to fly yet?” 

“So the stuff about the special abilities were true, Lisa?”

“Apparently.” Lisa grins at Yukina. “You just flick your baton towards where you wanna go and you can kinda just lead yourself to where you wanna go. I think I have finally gotten the hang of it, See?” Lisa extends her arm holding the mahogany colored baton and the stick begins to sparkle. She starts flying, and goes north like Yukina said. She shouts for Yukina.

“Come on, Yukina!” Lisa disappears into the horizon. Yukina flicks her wrist, and does just as Lisa did. Yukina begins to fly and she tries to catch up with her now witch-like companion. The two of them sail on north, in search of a new area. 

Meanwhile…

“A mystical world, filled with magic and wonders… how fleeting.” A captivated Kaoru says, hair swaying in the wind.

“I don’t think this is time, Kaoru. We should be exploring our area more. This is a lot more serious than it seems, Kaoru. Do you even remember what we were told? We could even kill people here. This isn’t the theatre club, Kaoru.” Chisato gives a menacing look to Kaoru.

“But Chi-chan-”  
“Don’t you dare call me that.” Chisato glares at Kaoru. Kaoru coughs.  
“Er, Chisato, We could atleast be a little more lighthearted. Keep up the mood, no? After all the great bard once said-”

“Actions are eloquence, right? That doesn’t even apply here. Man, I wish Lisa didn’t leave us so soon to group up with Yukina. Now I have to deal with you by myself.” 

“My apologies, Chisato. At Least we’ve been able to get 2 missions done. We should both be at 1350 KS, right? Shall we check on our kites?” 

“Sure.” The two of them warp to their Castles.

“Wow. The kite sure is flying higher now. Oh, and what’s this?”  
Chisato finds something in her Castle that didn’t seem to be there before. It is a terminal-like device, with the words “Castle warps” engraved on it.   
“The only thing on here is Kaoru’s Castle? Is this the infiltrating thing that thing mentioned? Hopefully know one comes for my Castle. Something to keep in mind, I suppose.”  
Chisato looks around her Castle. It is a tower with 2 windows in the room. The windows seem to just lead to nothingness, as outside them is just endless white.  
“Never really took time to look at this place. I wonder, does this tower actually have a bottom? It doesn’t look like the tower I saw in the middle of Yuhngarde, either. Oh well.” Chisato lets out a sigh, and then touches her bracelet. She warps back to Kaoru, who seems to have gotten back before her.  
“Let us check on our missions, young kitten. Yuhngarde board.”  
“I will never understand why you call people that. Yuhngarde board!”   
The two observe their new updated missions and turn to each other.   
“It would seem we must separate. I must go locate the ‘Spirit Woods’ next. I guess we only got one more mission so far. Farewell, Kitten.”

“Bye, Kaoru.” Chisato had not even read her mission to Kaoru. It would be too uncomfortable. She wasn’t about to tell her that she had to steal from her. She thought about the mission to herself.   
“Steal 250 KS from another participant: 200 KS”  
How disgusting. Might as well get over with it already. I can explain later, I suppose. Chisato thought to herself. She warped back to her Castle, rather depressingly, and infiltrated Kaoru’s Castle. 

Meanwhile…

“Oh! A new place, Yukina! It’s like some sort of ancient building. What is it called…?” Lisa wondered to herself as she prepared to land. Yukina was able to get ahead of Lisa during their flight, so she took a moment to look at the name of the area. She found it was called “The Old One”.   
“The building’s name is extremely vague. We just landed at The Old One, Lisa.”  
“Wow that is one mysterious name. I think I actually had a mission about this place. Yuhngarde Board!” Lisa looked at her list. “Yep. I just had to find it. I’m at 2300 KS, now! Go me!”

“Nice work, Lisa. My next mission is just to simply find a gemstone. I assume there are multiple, as the mission doesn’t specify any locations. Shall we explore?”

“Yeah! Let’s go for it.” 

The two girls step into the building and are greeted with cobwebs, Spiders, Cockroaches and dusty chairs.   
“This isn’t as cool as I was hoping.” Lisa sighed and looked around.  
“Nope. We should still look around though. Maybe there’s the gemstone here.”  
The girls look into every nook and cranny of the place trying to find said gemstone, until Yukina gets distracted by a noise.   
“Meow.”   
“Huh?” Yukina blushes. “Did you hear that, Lisa?”  
“Yeah…”   
The two girls look back to the entrance and find a stray cat wandering in.   
“A cat…? I… aw…”   
“Yukina, I know you love cats but-”  
It was too late. Yukina got up swiftly and ran towards the cat. Yukina tripped on the leg of a chair, and fell with a loud thunk. Particles of stone fell from the ceiling.   
“Yukina! You alright?”   
Yukina gets up from the ground and reassures Lisa.   
“I’m fine, but the cat! I need to get it out of here so they are at least safe.”  
“Yukina, you need to be careful.”  
“I’ll try- UGH!”   
“YUKINA!”   
A part of The Old One’s ceiling broke off, and it crushes Yukina’s left arm when it lands.  
“Lisa… I can’t reach my wristband… I’m stuck.”  
“Don’t worry Yukina, I’m coming-” 

No, she wasn't coming. She couldn't. The Old One collapsed onto itself, and entombed the two girls inside. After a loud crash, there was silence in the area. Then there was nothingness. The girls were both crushed until there was nothing left of them or The Old One.


	4. Unwilling subordinate

Chapter 4: Unwilling subordinate

The second hour has ended. Maya is still hunting for the charm.  
“Seriously, where could this thing be? Ugh, 2 hours have passed and now I have 700 KS. This really sucks. I guess I should check there now…” Maya turns her head to a shack on the mountain.   
“The door’s unlocked. What’s in here?” 

“Hello, young girl… What might your name be?” 

“Oh, my name is… Maya Yamato.”   
Inside the shack was a small elderly lady rocking a chair back and forth, knitting what seemed to be a scarf.

“Hello, Maya… are you looking for anything?”

“Funny you ask that, I’m here for a charm or something.”

“A charm? You mean something like this?”  
The lady shows Maya a bright pink charm in the shape of a heart. Her wristband makes a noise, and it now says “1150 KS”. 

“Oh, yes actually. That seems to be exactly what I was looking for.”

“Oh that’s good. Do you need it, then?”

“If you don’t mind, I actually would like to take that with me. Is… that okay?”

“Oh yes, Maya. You seem to be a sweet girl. Here.”   
The elderly lady holds out the charm for Maya, and Maya gently takes it from the palm of the lady’s hand.

“Thank you. I’ll need to be leaving now if you excuse me.”

“Wait, you can take this scarf. I just finished knitting it. It’s cold out there, you know.” 

“Oh, okay. Thank you, that’s really kind of you, actually.”   
Maya hadn’t realized how cold it really was. She kindly took the scarf from the lady with a sweet smile and walked back out the shack. 

“I guess I should check what my new mission is! I imagine at least one more mission has been added? Yuhngarde board!”  
Maya observed that she had to visit one more named area, and… 

“Huh?”   
Maya was shocked. The mission couldn’t be serious, right? Maybe it means in a figurative way? Isn’t that still bad, though? 

“Maya… Hi… I came here… with Himari…”  
Rinko walked slowly towards Maya.

“Hi Maya! Rinko both had a mission involved with this area! And hey, looks like we all have 1150 KS.”

“Oh, haha… that’s funny… Um, I need to leave   
now… good luck.”

“Maya… wait…” 

“H-huh? What, R-Rinko?” 

“What… is your mission…”

“I… er, um… I can’t tell you! Haha… or um… I fail? Yeah I’d fail! So um, bye!”   
Maya fled from the site as fast as she could. She couldn’t possibly tell anyone her mission. She could never do this mission, it seemed. I can’t share this! Why is this a mission? Why me? I can’t ever… do that to someone. Maya said the magic words once more to look at the mission. It was real. She wasn’t seeing things. I…   
Maya wanted to sob. 

“Hey, Rinko. Why do you think Maya was so nervous about that mission? It can’t be that bad.”

“I… don’t know why… she would act like...that, Himari.”

“It’s a shame we can’t see her more. Let’s get our missions done now, Rinko! I need to take an icicle off this mountain, so maybe I can find one on the edge somewhere? I might be able to see Eve. I saw Kokoro around this area on that map   
as well.”

“That… would be nice. I’ll go do... my mission now, then. Afterwards… do you want… to find Kokoro? I am a... little worried.”   
“Sure thing! Then we can go see Tomoe and Ako.”  
“That sounds… really good…”  
The two girls went off to complete their new mission. They carefully traversed the mountain and were well on their way to bumping up their KS.

Meanwhile…

“Ah!”   
Kokoro had passed out, and is still bleeding from   
her arm. She had a hard time moving. 

“Aw… it still hurts… where is everyone?”  
Kokoro opened her map and took a loot at everyone’s positions.

“Hm? Where’s Yukina and Lisa? Wow! Did they already get 3000 KS? That’s amazing! Yukina is super cool! And Lisa is really nice! No wonder they succeeded! But my arm still hurts. There is weird red stuff coming out of it, and that sure won’t make the world smile!” Kokoro thought of how to escape and try to help her arm, but didn’t really know how to go about it. She did however, see a white haired girl running towards her.

“Kokoro! Are you okay? You don’t look very bushido right now!” Eve Wakamiya, the keyboard samurai of Pastel*Palettes rushed to Kokoro’s aid. “Eve! Can you help me? I have a boo-boo on my arm and it hurts a lot.”  
Eve inspected Kokoro’s arm in worry.

“Oh no! You need some help! Let’s get you somewhere where you can be healed! It’s a samurai’s duty to help friends.” Eve grinned and helped Kokoro up. 

“Stay close, Kokoro. I think there is a village in these woods or something.”   
Eve and Kokoro wandered through the woods, until they found a clearing with a few houses in it.

“Hey! Is anyone there? My friend needs help badly!”  
Eve opened her map and found that the small clearing was named “Spirit woods”. Her wristband now read “1100 KS”. She read Kokoro’s, and it now read “1250 KS”.  
A person stepped outside of one of the houses, carrying a roll of gauze.

“Are you two okay?” The person calmly asks. 

“I am, but my friend here isn’t her arm is real hurt.” Eve responds. Kokoro smiles at the stranger with one eye closed.

“Let me see. Oh, yeah. Here.” The stranger took Kokoro’s arm and wrapped it with the gauze. 

“Take care, okay? You guys need to be off now. The others here don’t really like visitors. They’ll be upset if you stay long.”

“Why? We could stay and make them smile!” Kokoro jumps up and down in excitement.

“Kokoro, I think she’s serious. Some people don’t need help smiling. We need to respect   
others, It’s a very bushido thing to do!” 

“Aw, okay, Eve! I guess we will leave then. Bye nice stranger!”

“B-Bye. You strange, strange girl. Don’t get hurt, now.”

Eve and Kokoro walked away from the village and the two of them decided to go find Chisato.   
“I think Chisato needs help smiling! She’s alone up there!” Kokoro points at the north-east most part of her map.   
“Let’s go see!” Kokoro smiles at Eve.

“Okay! Helping friends is very bushido.”   
Eve and Kokoro marched in the direction of Chisato.   
Meanwhile…

“Hah! Hah! Hiyah!”   
Chisato was shouting various battle cries while shooting pebbles at Kaoru’s kite.  
“Sorry, Ka-chan. But I just need 250.”  
Chisato did the last hit, and brought Kaoru down to 900 KS. Her own KS had raised to 1600.  
Chisato tapped her wristband, and was back in her tower-like Castle. She looked at her kite, and it soared higher than ever before.   
“Good. Now, I wonder how I was able to get to Kaoru’s Castle? It was a very pretty Castle, at that. It looked like an actual Castle, like for royalty. Maybe it was because she was near me when she teleported? That must mean she can warp to mine as well. I imagine she would never do something like that, though. She cares to much about all her ‘kittens’”. Chisato warped back to the area she was at before she infiltrated Kaoru’s literal Castle, and stood quietly for a bit.  
“I really have a bad feeling about this whole thing. Not only can we steal from the other girls, but we can murder? For our own personal gain? Gross. Hopefully this doesn’t escalate that far.” Chisato checked her map.   
“Where is Yukina and Lisa? They couldn’t have reached 3000 already. They… they must have died, then? How unfortunate. Roselia was such a successful band. Oh well.” Chisato closed her map. 

But then her eyes were closed too. 

Chisato found herself in a large white room. With her was the shadowy figure from earlier, and another strange man was there as well.

“Chisato Shirasagi. You work for me now.” The strange man turns around and faces Chisato. The shadowy figure begins to talk to the man. 

“Wow, what a straightforward way to approach her. Not even an interview? Instantly hired? Wow, Grandmaster. Hehehehe.” 

“Grandmaster?” Chisato looks confused, but still keeps her calm and collected mindset.

“Yes, from now on you will refer to me as Grandmaster.”

“Uh, okay mr. Grandmaster. Why am I here?”

“You work for me now. Refuse and die.”  
The shadowy figure giggles once more. 

“Hahahahah! Her face.”

“Shut up, joker. I’ll go full batman and beat your a-” 

“Please do not threaten my subordinates, Chisato Shirasagi.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever grandmaster of wasting my time. What do I need to do for you in order to not get the axe?”

“Do what I say. Like I said earlier, you work for me now. Do everything I say successfully and I’ll let you escape.”

“What will you make me do?”

“Nothing horribly disgusting like you may think. I didn’t summon you because you are my favorite actress or something. You just seem to be best suited for the job.”

“So do I need to mess with the others? Are you trying to get me to kill them all…? I know you aren’t playing any games.”

“Listen. Just do what I say. Yes you will ‘mess with the others’ and help me make the most entertaining Kite game out of these 25 girls. Well, 23. Yukina and Lisa have already been crushed to death.”

“So they are dead.”

“Yes.”

“Huh. I ask one more thing. Do not make me hurt Kanon in any way, or I will refuse obedience.”

“I can make that work.”

“You better, Grandmaster.”

“Your first job is this. Coerce Tae into stealing KS from another girl. Also, do not worry about your missions. You are immune to KS gains and losses now, you’ll escape when I let you. And I will let you. If you live.”

“Okay, then. She just needs to steal some? And why Tae?”

“Well, you will see.” 

“This makes me kinda nervous, Grandmaster. But if I must in order to not put my career on the line, then I shall. Man, do I hate your guts.”

“That’s what they all say.”

“‘All?’”

“Nevermind. Go do your mission, Chisato Shirasagi.” Chisato lets out one last sigh.

“Yes, Grandmaster. How do I get back?”

“Simply teleport as if you are traveling to your Castle. You will go back to where you were previously. I will bring you here when I need you. Go.”

Chisato touches her wristband with her thumb and pinky, and is back at her previous location.


	5. Dangerous Development

Chapter 5: Dangerous Development

“Grandmaster.”

“Yes?”

“How come you chose Chisato?”

“I have my reasons. I said that I believed she would be best suited for the job, correct? Trust me.”

“Yes, sir.”

 

Tae, Moca and Ran all explored their current surroundings. All three intrigued. 

“Hey, Ran~ I checked the map earlier, and this lake we’re at is called ‘Morning Pond’.”

“Interesting, Moca. That was definitely helpful because I definitely did not just check my map two minutes ago to read the name of this place.” 

“I know~ Moca-chan is the best~”

“So, Ran and Moca. How exactly do we do this mission?”

“Which one, Tae?” Ran looks at Tae confused.”

“The one about the thing in the pond.”

“Oh, We each have different missions then~” Moca puts her finger on her lips and smirks.

“Yeah, Moca’s right. I don’t have that mission. I need to actually climb some big tree. Not too sure which one, though.”

“I see what you mean, Ran~ The trees are all equal size~ does it say it’s in this area?” Moca looks around curiously.

“Yes. Hey, Tae, clarify your mission for me?”

“It says I need to dig out some ‘clay’ from the bottom of the pond. What’s a ‘clay’?”

“Er… Tae, It’s… You know what? Nevermind. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. I’m going to go to my Castle, see ya.” Ran touches her wristband, and vanishes quickly. 

“I should also do Castle stuff. Maybe. I’m going to see if there’s any villages nearby that have bread~”  
Moca walks off into the distance, relying on her “super ultra bread sense” to guide her.

“I guess I should look into the pond, then.”   
Tae walks over to the pond, and sticks her feet in. She looks at her reflection in the pond and sighs. “Would have been nice if Ran told me what a clay was.”

“Hey, Tae.” Chisato walks through the trees, and out into the area with the pond and Tae. “Looks like you need KS, huh?” 

“Yeah… I dunno how to get a clay from this pond, though.”

“Well, Tae. You can actually earn some KS if you visit Ran’s castle and wave your baton at the kite a lot!”

“Really, Chisato? Wow! But how do I get there?”

“Well, you go to your castle and go to the device thing that appears and select Ran’s Castle on it. If you go there and wave your baton at the kite, you’ll get some KS to help you out.”

“Wowzers, Chisato. That’s cool! I want to try it. I’ll have to tell the rest of PoPiPa this too.”

“Go for it! I’ll be leaving now.”

“Bye, Chisato!” Tae smiles widely and teleports to her castle.

Tae is back in her wonderland-themed Castle, and looks around. She finds a terminal that hadn’t been there before, and finds “Ran’s Castle” on it. Tae clicks the words with her finger, and a prompt pops up on the screen. Tae is intrigued by it. "Infiltrate? What does that mean? Whatever, I will just click yes.” Tae does just that and is teleported to a red and black room with a kite soaring through a ceiling window. Aside from the color scheme, the Castle looks like a traditional Japanese house.   
“Bippity boppity~” Tae waves her wand, and somehow launches a blade of wind at the kite. Then she launches another one. Then another. 

“Huh? Tae! Tae? TAE NO-”   
Tae didn’t hear Ran’s screams. The aloof girl hit the kite even more, and she was distracted by her KS number rising. But then, before she knew it, she was teleported back out of Ran’s castle. Tae found herself back at the pond, same as always. Though, everything was not the same as always, as now was a strange thing near her. Tae noticed the strange object and took a closer look. The object had belonged to someone she knew.

And that someone was Ran.

Ran’s head lay decapitated on the dirt floor of the area. Blood seeped out of the hole that was the disconnected neck of Ran’s body, and her mouth also had blood flowing between the lips. Ran’s hair had been half cut off and her scalp was scarred in almost every spot imaginable.

“Ha...ha… this is a joke, right? Ran? This is… really good paper mache.”

Chisato stood behind a tree. She was shocked both at what happened to Ran, and the fact that Tae knew the word “Mache”.   
"Tae stole too much? She killed Ran! How? Didn’t she realize? I need to get out of here!" Chisato rushed to touch her wristband, and was transported back to her Castle.  
“Ran? Ran! Where are you, Ran?” Tae had a flashback to what the screen in her Castle had said.  
You may steal KS by attacking kites? Once someone’s KS reaches 0 they… die?  
Tae was overloaded with emotions.

And Tae broke. 

Now a lifeless shell of what once was a cheery, aloof and idiotic guitarist, was now a savage. A savage who didn’t remember even her own name.   
"KS… KS… KS… 0… KS…"  
Tae could only think of Kite string. She wanted to escape, to get 3000 KS. She forgot why, but she knew she had to. All she could think of was KS.  
"You can kill others to get KS… Kill… kill equals KS…"  
Tae looked at her wristband, but she could know longer tell what number was shown.

She only knew it wasn’t large enough.

Tae walked, and limped, and wimped, and walked the trails ahead of her. 

She wanted blood.

She wanted Kite string.

Though, KS not only meant Kite string to her.

It meant to kill someone. 

Chisato was safe in her Castle, and opened her map.   
“Ran… is dead. For real. She isn’t on the map. How would Moca react? What… is even happening? Is this real? Whatever. It’s all gonna be okay. I didn’t know this would happen. It’s not my fault. I need to live.” Chisato comforted herself, but then stopped. She noticed Tae’s icon moving slowly, but surely, in a consistent direction.  
“Is she okay? Oh no… I have a bad feeling about… this…” Chisato passed out, too stressed to handle what was going on. It was too much. Being the reason for a death? No. She couldn’t have been. 

...right?


	6. A height to test might

Chapter 6: A height to test might 

“A big tower… and I have to ascend it? Fue…”  
Kanon sized up the large tower in front of her for the umpteenth time, and let out a sigh. “This mission doesn’t seem very good. Kokoro or Kaoru could probably do this much better than I…” Kanon took a step toward the tower, but was stopped by shouting girls.

“Kanon!”  
In the distance, Tsugumi and Aya were calling out for Kanon. Kanon’s smile widened, waved for the girls. The two sprinted toward Kanon to meet up with her.   
“Kanon! Nice to see you. Do you have a mission at this tower?” Tsugumi had a positive look on her face, smiling at Kanon as she asked her the question.  
“Ah, yes… I need to get to the top of it. I get KS if I do.”  
Aya brightened up. 

“Cool! I need to go up it too! Though, my mission is a bit different. I need to use a telescope at the top of it.” Aya turned her head upwards to peek at the tower’s highest point.

“Oh, okay! Let’s go up together. Though I might not be the best person to go up with…” Kanon was once more filled with self doubt.

“Don’t worry, Kanon! We’ll be fine. This will be super easy!”

“Super easy for you to say. Fue… Tsugumi? Will you come to?”

“Ah, no. I need to be somewhere else, so I won’t be going up with you. Good luck, though!”

“Thank you, Tsugumi.” Kanon felt reassured from Tsugumi’s encouragement, and looked toward the tower.

“Ready, Kanon?” Aya was eager to step in the tower and reached for Kanon’s hand.

“Yeah!” Kanon took Aya’s hand and held it, then the two entered the tower. 

The girls are greeted with a huge spiral staircase on their way up, and are intimidated.

“Aya… I’m scared… Fue…” Kanon sheds a tear.

“It’s all gonna be okay, Kanon! Think of it as a test of might!”

“But… I’m not mighty…”

“Yes you are! Just believe!”

“Easy for an idol to say… Fue…”

Meanwhile…

“Hm? How come my wristband now only says 900 KS?” Kaoru was very confused, and decided to try and run the calculations.  
"So… I had 1350 when I was with Chisato. The second hour passed, bringing me to 1150. So where did that extra 250 come from?"  
Kaoru was disappointed, but it did not phase her.  
“Ah, well, KS is fleeting after all.”  
Kaoru continued walking south, in hopes of reaching the Spirit Woods. On her travels, However, she encountered a large tower. Hagumi had stumbled upon this tower at the same time.  
“Ah! Kaoru! Hi!” Hagumi walked to Kaoru and gave her a cheerful hug. “Ka-kun! Do you know where Kanon went?”

“No, my kitten. I do not. Let us check our maps.”  
The two girls opened their maps and looked around. They had missed it at first, but finally located Kanon’s icon. Kaoru was first to find it, followed by Hagumi shortly after.  
“I see. Kanon is traversing this fleeting tower with Aya. My pink kitten is being helpful as always. How fleeting…”

“You are so cool, Ka-kun!” Hagumi’s eyes shined and she looked up to Kaoru.  
“Well, I guess I will get going, then. If Kanon is fine, then there is no worries! I’m going to join up with Mii-kun! Maybe I’ll find Michelle too!”

“Then go, my kitten. Tell Misaki I said hello. Farewell, Hagumi.”

“Bye, Ka-kun! I’m gonna go now.”

Hagumi sprinted west, checking her map every now and then making sure she could catch up with Misaki.

“Now, back to finding those woods. I think I’ll go find Kokoro, she might know where it is. South, right?” Kaoru opened her map. “Yes. Off I go, now.” Kaoru continued her journey to the Spirit Woods, mumbling to herself about kittens and fleeting things. 

Barely not seeing Kaoru, a zombie-like Tae walked away from what once was a pond, now a death site.   
"Kill… someone… Kite… string… Kill..."  
Regular thoughts escaped Tae. A bloodthirsty monster wishing for nothing but release from a grim world continued west. Tae did not know what, or who she saw, but 2 people flying in the sky above a vibrant town had caught her eye.  
"Need… KS… Need… kills…"   
Tae followed these girls and wanted their spilled blood. Tae still could think of nothing but murder and Ran’s remains. She was traumatized, and broken beyond repair.


	7. 2 birds with one stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally figured out how to use italics lmao

Chapter 7: 2 birds with one stone

Maya dashed. She didn’t want to do this mission, and if it came down to it… she would never forgive herself. _I have to KILL someone? Another living, breathing person?_  
For the first time since seeing the mission, she realized the harsh truth of the mission. She never accepted it, and never wanted to think that it was true. 

Maya dashed faster now, wanting to escape humanity and reality, but now she dashed to embrace it. She didn’t want to complete this mission, so she won’t.   
_I don’t need to do this. So I won’t. I’ll group up with the nearest people and pretend like it doesn’t exist…_ Maya was determined to work around this mission and reach 3000 KS without hurting another living thing.

Meanwhile… 

 

“Sis~ that was super fun! We both got our missions done and now we have 1150 KS! Let’s land soon.”

“Okay, Hina. What should we do now, then?”

“Let’s see that big building over there! It looks like it collapsed, or something crazy. Isn’t that boppin’!”

Sayo and Hina flew above Gohsendt, having a cheerful conversation. After a bit more flying, they decided to land northeast of Gohsendt. 

“Let us be on our way, then. It will be nice to walk through this pathway. I’m glad I get to see this with you, Hina, despite the current situation we are in.”

“Whaddya mean, Sis?”

“N-nevermind. Hey, Hina, did you hear that? It sounds like crunching.”

“Yeah… I think it’s behind us!”

The two turquoise-haired girls turnt their heads, and saw Tae slowly walking towards them.

“Hey, Tae! You don’t look very boppin’. You okay?” Hina smiled at Tae sweetly. Tae responded with… nothing.

“Tae, seriously, is something wrong? Are you lost?”

Tae still was emotionless, and she started running towards the two girls.

“Tae…?” Sayo began to get worried.

“Sis! I think she wants to play tag! Let’s run this way!”

Hina grabbed Sayo’s arm and pulled her along. The two girls ran away from Tae towards a large river, and their KS rose to 1550. Tae sped up much faster than the two girls, and caught up to them. She grabbed Sayo forcibly.

“T-Tae! That’s not how you play tag!” Hina got a little frustrated, and shook Tae off Sayo.

“Hina! Get back!”

“Why?”

“NOW!” Sayo raised her voice at Hina and was practically screaming, and she jumped in front of Hina stretching open her arms. Tae stopped running, and flicked her baton. She shot a blade of wind, and it hit Sayo dead on. The wind cut through Sayo’s skin and left her with great pain, and Hina stood there shocked. Tae had attacked Sayo once more, and this time Sayo screeched. Hina pulled Sayo towards her and away, and tackled Tae. Hina began crying and pinned Tae down. Tae punched Hina in the cheek bone and knocked her off of her. Hina’s tears flowed down much faster now, and she stood there shocked once more. But then her crying stopped, because a figure with brown hair leaped at Tae and threw her to the side.

It was Maya Yamato, and she started grabbing Tae once more. Maya wrestled with Tae for a good minute while Hina ran to Sayo, now laying on the floor, and sobbed.  
“Tae! Stop!” Maya continued struggling with Tae and Tae mumbled.  
“Kill…”  
Maya came to the realization that Tae Hanazono was no longer the same, and Maya pushed at Tae one last time with all her might.

 

Tae was launched forward, and landed on several rough rocks along the side of the river. Tae coughed blood and instantly died and bounced off the rock into the river. Her body was left with marks all over and her limbs were disfigured in horrifying ways that were almost unthinkable. The river, now stained red, carried Tae off into the distance.  
Maya’s KS rose to 1950, then 2400. _I… did it… I killed someone… I killed… her… and got bonus KS for it too._ Maya fell on her knees and cried as well. 

“Sayo! Sayo… Sis you made a promise!” Sayo was bleeding all over her body and had flesh exposed on her torso and legs. 

“Hina… I’m sorry… I broke our promise. I don’t think I can make it… Please, Hina don’t give up.”

“Sayo! No! Sayo! Stop! You’re alive! Stop joking!”

“I’m sorry, Hina. This isn’t… a joke.” Sayo shed a tear. “Ow…!”

“Sayo!” Hina shaked Sayo’s arms furiously and then put her arms around Sayo’s neck. She used her chest as pillow and sobbed loudly. 

“Sayo… the promise. It was a pinky promise!”

“I know. And I broke it. Forgive me, please. Tell Maya thank you… okay? She… really saved you. If not a thank you… from you, then thank… her for me…”

Sayo’s eyes shut, and she stopped breathing. Her body went lifeless, and she layed there on the ground. 

Then Hina let out a blood curdling scream. She cried, cried and cried til’ she could no more. She wrapped her pinky around Sayo’s and began to mumble. Maya went over to Hina and comforted her by wrapping her arm around her.  
“Sayo… I won’t give up. I don’t understand what I need to keep trying on… but I will try. I won’t give up. That’s our… last… pink promise…!”  
Hina cried once more, and turned to hug Maya. 

“What happened?!” Misaki sprinted towards Hina and Maya as fast as she could, coming out of a clearing in the forest. The girl immediately realized what had happened to Sayo, and went silent.


	8. A gift worth giving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Did say updates would be inconsistent tho >_>

Chapter 8: A gift worth giving

Hina stopped crying. She sucked up her tears and stood silent near the river. 

“Hina? You alright?” Misaki put her arm on Hina’s shoulder and looked at her face. Hina had a grim expression, but appeared to not have lost hope.

“I… yes. I am alright.” Hina spoke in a strange manner, different then she usually did, but brightened up. “Sis would want me to be alright.”  
Hina looked to Sayo’s body, then turned her head to Misaki. “I don’t really understand why you asked, but I… appreciate it.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re okay, Hina. I’m sorry for your…” Misaki grew quieter as she talked and stopped.

“Hm…?”

“N-nevermind. I’m glad you’re alright.” Misaki felt embarrassed. She didn’t want to mention Sayo’s death right away. _Too soon._ She thought.

“So, where have you been, Misaki?” Misaki blinked and took a double take, surprised at Hina’s bright and curious face. Hina planted herself in front of Misaki facing her. She stretched her neck closer to Misaki’s face and turned her head like an owl, or a confused dog.

“Oh, I’ve just been completing missions. I’ve been exploring by myself.” Misaki had bumped into Tomoe, but didn’t want to mention her. She was afraid it might remind Hina of Sayo, and Misaki didn’t want Hina to already lose her composure, or what was left of it. 

“Interesting! Thank you for coming to see us, Misaki. How are your missions going?”

“G-good.” Misaki was still shocked at how _**normal**_ Hina was acting. “I have around 2000 KS, I think.” Misaki checked her wristband, but was surprised. “Nevermind. It looks like the fourth hour actually already passed.” She was right. She now had less KS than before.   
Hina and Misaki kept conversating, and Maya got up off her knees.

_So I should have 2200, right…?_ Maya was right. She looked at her wristband. _And Hina has… 950? That leaves me with… 150._ Maya had devised a plan.

“So we should just keep doing mission, huh?”  
“Yeah.”  
Maya walked towards the conversating girls and interrupted.   
“Hina. Do you want to escape?”  
The straightforward question startled Hina. To her, the answer was obvious. The weight of her answer, however, had never become so apparent.

“Y-yeah! I do…” Hina stuttered, and couldn’t figure out why Maya would ask something like this.

“Meet me in my castle, okay?” Maya touched her wristband, and vanished in an instant.

“Woah, what? How do I do that? How do I find Maya? Misaki, teach me!” Hina begged Misaki.

“I-I don’t know! Go to your castle I guess?”

“Okay!” Hina, too, had vanished. She then found herself in her own castle, which had been big, blue fluffy cloud in a formation that was able to hold Hina’s weight. Her kite quite literally flew above the clouds. Hina looked to her left, and found a terminal with words on it’s screen.  
“Let’s see. It says… ‘Maya’s castle’?”  
Hina tapped the screen with her index finger.  
“Hm? I dunno what infiltrate means, but let’s go!”  
Hina appeared in Maya’s castle a few moments later. It was a cottage made out of wood with a fireplace running. It made quiet crackling noises and the flame constantly waved itself around. 

“Hi, Hina. Do me a favor.” Maya was wrapped in a green blanket that seemed to be in the cottage, and looked at Hina sweetly. “Go ahead and wave your baton at the kite softly.” Hina lifted her teal baton and waved it obediently. She shot a pebble that brought down the kite’s height a few inches. “Keep going, please.” Hina was confused, but obeyed once more.

“I don’t really understand, but okay!” Hina kept launching various things at the kite which was flying through a ceiling window, and eventually it had reached inside the cottage. Hina shot one more pebble, and was engulfed in an almost blinding light. Hina looked at her wristband, then understood what Maya had done for her. She began to tear up.   
“Maya?”  
“I’ll see you at CiRCLE, okay? I’ll call you when we should meet up.”  
“Maya…? why…”  
“Bye, Hina. See you in a bit. It won’t take me long. Atleast, for you.” Maya smiled at Hina. The light continued to devour Hina, and it covered her entire body. 

Then Hina was gone, and so was the light.  
“I guess I should head back to Misaki, huh? I should tell her what I did, though I’m sure she’s smart enough to have figured it out by now.”


	9. A climb and a mission

Chapter 9: A climb and a mission

“Hey, Misaki.”  
Maya exited her castle and greeted Misaki, who was waiting for her. 

“That was bold of you. You know I would’ve happily split the task with you, right?”

“It’s okay. I just need to keep up my KS. With everything that’s happened to me already, I think I can handle it. Misaki, let’s head northwest. I wanna explore some new places, and meet up with some new people.”

“Alright.” 

 

_Pant… Pant… Pant…_  
Rinko was exhausted. 

“You seems so tired, Rinko… sorry you went through all that…” Himari looked at Rinko concerned.

“Don’t… apologize… We had no… control whether or not… you fell…”   
When Himari went to complete her mission to retrieve an icicle off the mountain, she had fell down the side. Rinko had to come down the mountain and find her, but when she did she fortunately found Himari uninjured. Himari opened her map.

“Rinko, you see this spot on the map?” Himari pointed to the middle left part of the map with her index finger. “Why don’t we head there? We can meet up with some people, maybe get some missions done?” Himari smiled at Rinko with a blindingly bright smile and turned her head.

“That… sounds good…”  
And so they were off.

 

“That was really nice for the people to give us food!”   
“Yeah! We asked nicely, and they provided. We qshould do something return.”  
“Hey, sis… Now that I think about it, I’m not hungry…”  
“Huh?”  
Ako and Tomoe were outside of Gohsendt, walking and… almost eating.  
“I… I’m not really that hungry either…? Wait, why aren’t we? It's been so long since we last ate.  
“I… don’t know? Sis, let’s save it for later then. Can we put it in the basket the villagers gave us?”  
“Yeah, sure. I’ll carry it.“

“AKO! TOMOE!” two girls ran towards the sisters, waving. 

Tomoe raised her hand and waved back.  
“Misaki! Maya!”

The four travelers met up. After a brief exchange of hugs, they discussed what they were doing next.

“Maya and I are heading northwest. What about you?”

“Well… uh…”  
“Can we follow them, Sis?” Ako’s eyes began to shine.   
“Sure.”

Misaki and Maya briefly explained to Tomoe and Ako what had happened to them.

“So… Sayo and Hina are gone?” Ako was sad. Very, very sad.

“I’m sorry, Ako… Roselia will never be complete again…” Tomoe shared Ako’s melancholy.

“At least Hina is okay. However, Sayo and Hina don’t seem to be the only ones with unfortunate things happening to them.” Misaki started to spill the beans.

“Yeah… Tae is also gone. And I mean gone. She… is dead.” Maya looked down in sorrow.

“Wow…” Tomoe once again was in shock. Ako seemed not as surprised as Tomoe, but still concerned. 

Not for long, though.

“Yukina, Lisa and Ran have disappeared off the map, too. And… there’s no way anyone could have gotten 3000 KS, yet.”

Ako squealed.   
“Well… obviously Yukina and Lisa did! They got 3000 KS! Yukina is super cool and amazing and the number one singer in the world! And Lisa is her friend! The best bassist in the world! They got 3000 KS, I know it!”

“Ako…” Tomoe had already figured out what their disappearances meant. Ako, however, was in denial.

“They’re alive, I know it!”  
Misaki said nothing. Maya said nothing. Tomoe sighed.

“A-alright. Let’s get moving again, okay?”  
Tomoe put on a happy front. Misaki and Maya saw through it immediately, but to Ako, Tomoe was always happy. Her big sis was the best-est, coolest, number 1 drummer in the world, right?


	10. Ascents, descents and the ability to believe

Chapter 10 Ascents, descents and the ability to believe 

“OH. MY. GAWDDDDDD” Aya let out an oddly satisfying scream. “We’ve been climbing this tower forever!” 

“I know, Aya… This tower is so large! I wanna get my KS already… Fue…” 

Aya and Kanon were exhausted. They had been walking for hours, and only at 550 KS. 

 

“Fue…” Kanon panted heavily. “Wait… Aya… I see the top!”

“Really? We made it?” Aya began to cry. Tears of joy, of course.

“Aya, are you okay?” Kanon noticed her tears.

“I’m just so happy…!” 

The two girls climbed to the top, and observed their surroundings. 

“My KS! YAY!” Kanon smiled widely. “We can finally leave… after we… get your mission… oh. Oh… no…” 

Kanon and Aya stood there shocked. 

They both shouted in sync a minute later.

“WHY ARE THERE SO MANY TELESCOPES!?” 

The two girls sobbed, and knew their fate for the next hour or so would be to find the right telescope for Aya. 

To be continued? Meanwhile…

“Saya! We’re doing so well! We’ve gotten so many missions done and we didn’t even need help! Though, I wanna see Kasumi, Arisa and Tae again…” Rimi boasted her and Saya’s accomplishments. 

“I know, right? When we get home, I’ll make you the best choco cornet ever to celebrate!” Saya’s smile slightly frowned. “But, you’re right… it’d be nice to see them again.” The girls shook their heads, like a dog drying itself after a day in the rain, and recharged themself with positive vibes. 

“Saya! Why don’t we go meet up with Kasumi and Arisa!”

“That’s a great idea, Rimi! I believe their icons are just north. Let’s check the map.”

Saya and Rimi looked at their maps of Yuhngarde, and Saya appeared to be right.

“Yep! Just up there, see, Rimi?” Saya pointed to the blonde tsundere’s icon on the map, and cheerfully looked at Rimi.

“There’s Arisa! And Kasumi! Let’s go, Saya! Let’s show them the 2200 KS we each have!” Rimi ran forward excitedly.

And then the two of them heard a click. And down they went.

“AH!!” Saya and Rimi descended low below the ground, and found themselves in a hole they couldn’t escape from. 

Saya and Rimi looked upward. Rimi sighed and began to speak. 

“It’s just barely too high to climb out of. If only we could fly, somehow…”

“Haha, wouldn’t that be a miracle.”

Saya was hoping this whole “other world” nonsense would just be a simple waste of time, so she stayed positive and just encouraged Rimi. But it was right about the time they triggered a pitfall trap and fell what seemed like 40 feet underground into a small cave with a dark, menacing tunneling pathway that things might, just might, not be that easy.

“Um… In we go…?” Saya gestured towards the dark hallway.

“Yeah… sure...Saya?”

“Yeah?”

“Hold me?”

Saya sighed. 

 

Meanwhile…

“KASUMI I AM SERIOUSLY DONE WITH YOU”  
Arisa yelled furiously at Kasumi. Her face turned a tomato red. “KASUMI, YOU GOT US IN THIS HOLE AND YOU WILL GET US OUT.”

Kasumi and Arisa found themselves in a hole connecting to a dark, dank and dim passage that looked like a mineshaft.

“Arisa! We got this! We can just get out!” Kasumi waved her baton around carelessly and smiled.

“KASUMI STOP GOOFING OFF AND GET US OUT OR LORD SO HELP ME I WILL END YOU.” Kasumi payed no mind to Arisa’s harsh words and ran into the shaft. Arisa followed her unwillingly. 

The place absolutely reeked. The mineshaft’s stench could only be described as old socks, spoiled milk and _really_ wet dogs unsurprisingly, as the two girls pushed onward, the mineshaft did not get any easier to navigate. It got worse. It got even darker and the girls were taking several turns. Hope of returning to the entrance at which they arrived was basically nonexistent. 

“We can make it, Arisa!” 

“Oh, really?” Arisa responded sarcastically. 

“Hagumi taught me magical words! Happiness Happy Magical! When you say those words, everything will be okay!”

“You really believe Hello, Happy World!’s nonsense?”

“Yep. You just gotta believe!”

“Kasumi… seriously…?” Arisa was done putting up with Kasumi. The two girls stepped forward farther into the mineshaft. All the while Kasumi sang to herself happily.

“Happiness! Happy Magical! Lalalala~”  
Kasumi was shouting lyrics. 

“...I wanna die.”


	11. Rube Goldberg Machine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oof

Chapter 11: Rube goldberg machine

“Chisato.”

“M-master…” 

Chisato and the grandmaster sat alone in a room, isolated. 

“It’s grandmaster. And I have to congratulate you on your assasination of Ran, Tae and Sayo.”

“W-what?!” Chisato turned red. She couldn’t believe what she was just told.

“Yes. I had you do that to assassinate Ran and Tae. Oh, wait, did you not know you killed Tae and Sayo too?” 

“I…”

“It’s all a machine, Chisato. Thank you for playing the leading role in this performance. You’re a star.”

“You sick bastard!” Chisato bolted up from the floor, but was immediately forced down by a force unbeknownst to the blondie. 

“Tae killed Ran. Tae became blood hungry and traumatized. Tae strived for escape. Tae looked for victims. She found victims. She murdered Sayo, Maya came in for the rescue… Tae was shoved into a rocky river and was bludgeoned to death by the hard stones and beating current. Truly magnificent, right?’ 

“NO-” Chisato’s mouth was zipped shut by the unknown force once more, and she sat back down quietly.

“You have another mission. Deliver this envelope right outside of a building called The Old One. Leave it near the tree stump directly in front of the debris. Then I’ll return you here.”

Chisato cried. She shed tears, more tears than she ever had before. But she must comply. She has to. She did what was expected of her and must continue to do so. What’s 3 lives to the almost 8 billion lives on earth? It’s okay… It’s all okay. 

Chisato was warped to her castle, again, able to speak. 

“The Old One…? I swear… if this takes another life…” Chisato stopped talking and warped out of her castle. She found in front of her a massive pile of debris.   
“I… need to leave it here. At the tree stump. Yes…Am I sure I…?”  
Chisato stopped herself before she asked herself what might have been the dumbest question she could think of. _Who am I kidding. It doesn’t matter if I’m sure… I… I…_  
 _Poof._ She vanished.

In Chisato’s absence, the envelope flew in a gust of wind. It looked majestic for a second. Paper, flying in the wind, without a care in the world. The envelope and the wind calmed, and the envelope began to drop. Lower and lower it came to the ground. And eventually… plop! It landed in a village undiscovered by any of the girls to this point. A villager picked it up and began walking to a big house, plated in gold and lined with silver. The villager walked in and handed it to a tall and buff man. The man opened the letter and read carefully.

Immediately, he was alarmed.   
“Danger! Intruders near!” The letter read in another language. The villagers and the man, who seemed to be a leader of sorts, got up and began to move quickly. They grabbed guns with sharp spears on the ends, put on leather armor, and headed outside of the village. The village was angry. The village was upset. The village was _ready_. The mob began shouting angry things in another language, and marched west. 

It all comes together. 

Like a machine.


	12. The Der'gnirreh kidnapping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw Der'gnirreh is pronounced [Der-Nee-reh-]

Chapter 12: the Der’gnirreh kidnapping 

 

“Yay! My KS has finally gone to where it should be!” Aya finally found the proper telescope, and was descending the tower with Kanon. Or, they were about to, when… 

“Kanon! Aya!” Hagumi came flying from the bottom of the tower to meet with the girls.   
“I brought a friend!” Holding Hagumi’s hand and also flying was Tsugumi, anxious about their height. 

“Hagumi! Please slow down…”

The two girls landed in front of Aya and Kanon.   
“What are y’all doing?” Hagumi itched her nose and grinned. 

“Hagumi! Fueeee~ I’m so relieved…” Kanon let out a satisfying sigh. 

“We were doing our missions! Now we need to get back down. Hagumi, how were you flying like that?” Aya was desperate for this information.

“We used our batons! Flicking them in a direction just kind of sends you there.”   
Aya went silent.   
Kanon sighed, fue’d, and took in a deep breath. Then the two screamed. 

“WE COULD HAVE FLOWN?”

“Oh, you walked all the way up here?”   
Tsugumi was genuinely concerned.

“Yeah… Kanon, let’s go…”  
Aya flicked her baton and swooped down to the bottom. On their flight, they may have had alittle accident or two. 

“OW! MY FACE! stupid wall…”  
“No no no no- OOF- Fue….”  
Hagumi and Tsugumi heard their shouts. They couldn’t stop themselves from laughing. They then followed Aya and Kanon down the tower.

Aya got a determined look on her face. “Yuhngarde board!”   
Nothing happened. Tsugumi began to whisper.   
“It's pronounced like you-n-guard. Not yun-gar-day”  
“O-oh… Yuhngarde board!”

Aya’s missions popped up.   
“Visit Der’gnirreh village in the west…”   
“Yuhngarde board!”   
The other 3 girls opened their boards. They had the same mission. 

“Shall we go, then?” Aya looked at the others.  
The other 3 nodded in agreement.  
Zoom!  
Off they went. 

Meanwhile…

“Haf! Hoe! Haf! Hoe!”  
The villagers marched angrier than ever, shouting in another language, still.

“Rimi… you hear that? It’s getting closer…”   
“I do, Saya… “   
“Rimi, I’m gonna have to stop holding you.” Saya put Rimi down.   
The “Haf”s and “Hoe”s were getting closer. Saya whispered.  
“Rimi, hide!”   
The two girls pushed themselves onto a wall in the tunnel. They went unnoticed by the villagers.   
“Holy crap… that was close. Who were those guys?”   
Saya sweat.  
“I don’t know…” the two girls made sure the coast was clear and continued into the tunnel. 

Meanwhile… 

Kasumi and Arisa had given up on exploring the mineshaft, and (after taking a long time) finally made it back to the entrance.

“Haf! Hoe! Haf! Hoe!”  
“Arisa, what are they shouting?”   
“I don’t know, Kasumi. It’s not our problem, though. Don’t do anything stupid-” 

Kasumi did something stupid.

“Hey! We’re over here! Hi~”   
The shouting stopped. The villagers looked down into the pit Arisa and Kasumi had been in.   
The man that seemed to be the leader of the mob pointed at Kasumi and grunted.

It all happened so fast. 

The villagers poured into the pit and grabbed Kasumi against her will. They tied her up and one of the villagers carried her over their shoulder. Arisa hid in the mineshaft.   
“Don’t notice me… please don’t see me…!” 

One of the villagers barely noticed Arisa. 

“Whoops. They noticed me.”   
The mob did the same thing they did to Kasumi to Arisa. All the while threatening to shoot Arisa dead if she didn’t comply. 

The mob took Kasumi and Arisa back to their village.

Der’gnirreh village.


	13. Invasion: Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a discord server for this Fanfiction! Feel free to join and talk about the fic, bandori, or just meet new people! Mods will only be people I trust, so behave yourself... 
> 
> Join here!   
> https://discord.gg/98X8hfU

Chapter 13: Invasion Part 1

“Land right here!” Hagumi shouted, as the three girls prepared to land on the ground in front of a gateway. 

When the three landed, Aya looked cautious.   
“This village looks fishy…” She whispered. 

“I wonder what it’s named?” Tsugumi expressed her curiosity. She opened her map and read the name out loud. “Der’gnirreh village?” 

“Interesting!” Hagumi practically yelled. She couldn’t contain her excitement. 

Kanon fue’d. 

Which was a huge mistake. 

A huge man came out a building hearing Hagumi’s shout. He then noticed Aya and Tsugumi. He ran at them and grabbed forcefully. 

It seems Hagumi’s big mistake wasn’t the only one made then and there, though. 

Hagumi sprinted toward the man and kicked as hard as she possibly could at the man’s neck.   
“Hiyah!!” 

Hagumi winded the man. “No one hurts my friends!” She said.

“Wow… thank you, Hagumi!” Kanoni was filled with gratitude. 

“That was amazing!” Aya was bewildered. Hagumi’s face lit up with glee. “No problem! We should book it, though-” then, suddenly, the gate way they just passed through was shut. “It… doesn’t seem… safe.” Hagumi finished her sentence. Then she had an idea. “Let’s just hop the fence!” 

“No, we can’t!” Tsugumi stopped her. 

“Yeah. Tsugumi’s right.” Aya proclaimed. “I saw this in a movie an Idol I like was in once. See that electrical box?” Aya pointed to a box with a lightning bolt icon on it. “It’s an electric fence. It’s not safe.” 

“Darn!” Hagumi stomped her feet. 

“Yeah… And it looks like the only way out is that gateway all the way over there.” Tsugumi showed the girls a gateway in the distance pass the beige houses, beige walls, beige fences, and-- well, beige everything. “This town looks pretty boring… I’m a little surprised it's not safe here. The citizens seem to be aggressive! It doesn’t smell too great here, either”

The four of them found themselves at a loss of words. All they knew was that they needed to escape. 

But… how the hell are they gonna do that? 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the village…

“Haf! Hoe!” The mob of villagers carried Arisa and Kasumi against their will into a big, obvious building. Behind a tree watching the whole situation was Misaki, Ako, Tomoe, Maya, Rinko and Himari. While Misaki, Ako, Tomoe and Maya were on their way to this village, Rinko and Himari caught up with the girls. Shortly after their arrival, the 6 girls noticed a mob carrying the two Poppin’ Party bandmates being carried into the village. (They were able to identify them because they checked their maps for the girls’ icons.) 

“Sis! We gotta save them!” Ako shout-whispered   
to the rest of the girls. 

“We will, Ako. Just we gotta be safe, alright?”   
Ako nodded. “Is everyone good with this?” Tomoe asked.

A synchronized “Yeah.” Came from Misaki, Maya and Himari. 

“Um…If everyone else is… going, especially… Ako… I will too.” Rinko _almost_ exclaimed, but her speech habits prevented it. 

“We’re all set then. Let’s go. Be careful, Ako. I would ask you to stay behind, but… who knows what's in this world.” Tomoe gave a sad smile to her sister.


	14. History repeats itself

Chapter 13.5: History repeats itself

Hina sat in her room alone.  
“Sayo… Maya…” Hina was confused.  
“Why hasn’t Maya called me yet? I thought this world’s time was supposed to be faster… 1 day here is 900 days there… right…?” Hina contemplated the possibilities.  
“Could he have… lied…?” Hina’s tears flowed faster now.  
“What do I do…?”  
Hina’s phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number. She picked up anyway, out of boredom.

“Hello? Is this Hina? Please tell me this is Hina Hikawa…” Hina didn’t recognize the voice either,  
though it seemed the person on the other end of the phone was female.

“Um…! Yes, This is Hina Hikawa.”  
“Oh thank god… This is Yuri Ushigome. Rimi Ushigome’s older sister.”  
“You mean the poppin’ party member’s older sister?”  
“Yes. Do you have any idea where Rimi went? She’s been missing for hours. No one can find her!”  
_So it was a lie!_ Hina thought.  
“I… I know where she is.”  
“You do? Then… don’t tell me that she… is in Yuhngarde?”  
_Yuhngarde? That's the other world. How does she know?!_ Hina felt mixed feelings of happiness, confusion and melancholy.  
“She is.”  
“Damnit! This isn’t good. Hina, were you in Yuhngarde too?”  
“Yeah, I was…”  
“You got 3000 kite string?”  
“Yeah… I-I did…”  
“History is repeating itself. Hina, I have a story to tell you. And it’s no fairy tale. Come to the Ushigome household.”  
Hina hung up the phone and rushed as fast as she could. Yuri could provide her with clues and information on Yuhngarde, and on that evil person who was behind all this. She lost her beloved sister to that villain. If she can’t do anything about it, she at least wanted some sort of closure. 

Hina arrived at the Ushigome household. Yuri greeted her in front of the entrance. 

“Please, come inside.” 

Yuri guided Hina in, and Yuri took Hina to Rimi and Yuri’s bedroom. 

“So. Hina. There were 25 of you, right? That were taken to Yuhngarde, I mean.”  
“Y-yeah.”  
“It’s just as I thought… Hina, Years ago, I was also taken to Yuhngarde.”  
“You were?!”  
“Yep. With me was the rest of my band, Glitter Green, as well.”  
“Really? So they know about Yuhngarde, too?”  
“Most of them, yeah. Rii and Nanana, our bassist and keyboardist, still remember. Though, our drummer, Hinako… she suffers from a severe form of PTSD, Which is causing her to simply pretend like the whole thing never happened. She is in complete denial. It’d be too emotionally taxing on her to even bring it up.”  
“What’s PTSD?”  
“Oh, right, I guess someone like you wouldn’t understand, huh, Hina? Well, nevermind that. Anyway, back to my story. Glitter Green weren’t the only ones in Yuhngarde. There were 21 other girls from our school at the time who were involved as well.”  
“So there were 25 then, too…”  
“Yeah… though only the four of us in Glitter Green made it out alive… that’s why I’m worried for Rimi. And everyone else in their as well.”  
“...”  
“Who is in Yuhngarde right now?”  
“Um… it’s five different bands from this world. Poppin’ Party, Afterglow, Pastel*Palettes, Roselia and Hello, Happy World!.”  
“What?! Oh, no… Hina, we have to save them all! I need your help!”  
“How are we supposed to do that? Some of them are already dead, anyway… My sister didn’t even make it…”  
As Hina said that, Yuri noticed Hina had seemed to become a completely different person since her “visit to Yuhngarde”. _I really feel bad for the girl… But, I need her help to do this. I can’t go alone, and I don’t want my bandmates to have to suffer through Yuhngarde again._ Yuri felt genuine sadness.  
“Hina, we might be able to go back there and save them. I don’t really know how, but we have to try. I have a few ideas, I suppose, but I really need your help.”  
“A-alright.”  
“Let’s do our best.”


	15. Invasion Part 2

Chapter 14: Invasion part 2

“Ako, stay close.” Tomoe held Ako’s hand and kept her behind her back. 

When the 6 rescuers entered the town, they immediately hid behind the wall of one of the houses there. They were careful not to make noise, and observed their surroundings. Houses were lined up on either side of the village, in a straight column. Most, if not all, of the villagers seemed to have gathered into the same building as Kasumi and Arisa. Maya looked around the corner of the wall they were hiding behind, then looked back 

“Coast is clear. Let’s move now.” The group swift moved ahead to another building and hid behind that wall, however, just as they were about halfway to their destination, however…

The door to Kasumi and Arisa’s building, 3 buildings ahead, opened. Right before they were completely hidden, they were barely spotted.

A guard with 2 pistols strapped to his waist along with several other gadgets and gizmos walked cautiously down the isle of houses. The guard’s feet crunched against the gravel on the ground of the town, and the girls’ noticed the guard’s footsteps.

And they grew louder. 

Misaki almost panicked. She thought quickly, however, with a clear state of mind.

She went in for the kill. Misaki grabbed the guard and placed her hand over their mouth and pulled them into the middle of the girls. She grabbed a nearby stone, battered the guards head with it, and proceeded to snap his neck. 

Tomoe and Himari were shocked.  
“Misaki…! Wow, I-- that was intense…” Himari gasped, but also felt a slight sense of relief after saying that. Tomoe looked to Ako, but only to find her eyes glowing with admiration. 

“That was so cool, Misaki…! Is he really dead? Huh? Is he?” Ako was strangely excited.  
Rinko faced Tomoe and began to speak. 

“Um, Ako and I… Have played missions in… online games… that were similar… to this. She’s excited that she… was able to see… such a thing in… real life.” 

Tomoe no longer felt worried for Ako’s mental state after that, which was good, as there were already too many concerns on her mind right now.

“It was nothing. The suits, Kokoro’s body guards, forced me to take self defense classes for these types of situations so they could rely on me, ‘Michelle’ to be her savior. I guess this really is something I can put to use…” Misaki blushed, then shook her head to try and reset her emotions. She had to focus. 

Especially since in that moment, two guards exited the building Kasumi and Arisa were in. 

Ohhhhh boy.

Meanwhile… 

“Aya! Tsugumi! Kanon! Do you see what’s going on over there? There’s two men over there decked out in cool stuff!” Hagumi pointed and shouted. She was lucky she hadn’t been heard. 

“Hagumi, Hide!” Tsugumi pulled Hagumi’s arm behind a wall, that her, Kanon and Aya were also behind. Aya began to speak.

“Okay… here’s the plan… We need to sneak around as much as possible and try to escape! Let’s check the map…” Aya put on a determined face. She opened her map, and noticed eight icons of interest to her. “Guys! Kasumi and Arisa are hold up in that building! And over on the other side of the village is…” Tsugumi and Hagumi turn their bodies to peak at Aya’s map. They noticed Misaki, Maya, Himari, Rinko, Ako and Tomoe in the village. 

Kanon gasped. “Uh-oh! Are they gonna be alright…? Misaki…” 

“Aya, we gotta help them out. Kasumi and Arisa must be in trouble.” Tsugumi now had a look of resolve as well. She continued. “We just have to! Maybe that’s what those other six are trying to do as well.” Aya looked in the direction of Misaki’s group. She noticed the two guards exiting the building that held Arisa and Kasumi. “Oh no! Look!” The guards barely didn’t hear her. 

“Aya! Hide again!” Tsugumi shoved Aya behind a wall as gently as she could and hid with her. Hagumi and Kanon also took shelter there. “We can’t risk getting caught.” 

Kanon looked worried. “But what about them?” 

Aya began to worry as well. She buried her emotions and looked to Hagumi sweetly.  
“I bet they’ll be okay.” Aya reassured herself. _I mean, of course they’re gonna be okay. Even if the guards are carrying guns, they’ll be fine! I-I know it. I… know it…_


	16. Invasion part 3

Chapter 15 invasion part 3

Misaki’s mind rushed. She had to think of something. If the guards found them before she did something, and with the guards armed like that… they would be doomed. What could she do? Misaki then noticed two firearms laying on the ground next to her. 

“That’s it. That’s what I need.”

Tomoe whispered to Misaki.   
“Misaki, don’t you dare do anything rash.” 

Misaki then bottled up all the emotions she was feeling and faced Tomoe making intense, yet awkward despite the situation, eye contact. 

“Tomoe.” Misaki’s hands trembled. 

“W-what?” Tomoe, for some reason, felt it necessary to grasp Ako’s hand and focus her gaze even harder on Misaki. She shifted a bit uncomfortably, moving the gravel underneath her. 

Time seemed to stop in that moment as Misaki responded. 

“There’s a fine line between rash, dumb and necessary. So I’ll cross that line and do all three.” Misaki tore her beanie off her head, grabbed both guns and dashed in a James Bond-like style, pulling the triggers on both guards.

Unluckily for Misaki, however, even though she had expected this… 

The guards pulled the triggers as well.  
Boom. 

Bullets pierced all three of the heads in the crossfire. Blood was everywhere, spurting out of said heads.   
Tomoe knew what she had to do. And so did everyone else. 

Amid the pool of crimson, horrifying blood, Tomoe pulled Ako with her as she got up and held a gun in the other hand. Tomoe forced Ako behind her.   
“S-sis…!” Ako panted. The reality of the conundrum hadn’t gotten to her yet.   
Seeing Tomoe and Ako run, Rinko felt the desire to dash herself and run for Ako’s protection. She shed a tear for Misaki, and grabbed a gun off the ground. Himari and Maya followed behind, though Himari stumbled quite a bit because of her utter shock. Tomoe practically kicked open the door, opened fire on every non-band member in the vicinity and Rinko did the same.   
The adrenaline rush felt surreal. Tomoe and Rinko killed four out of the seven guards in the room, and barely managed to evade the bullets of the remaining three. 

Maya looked at the scene, specifically Rinko and Tomoe, in hope.  
 _They’re trying their best… so should I. For Misaki!_  
Maya rushed into the building and quickly shot two guards dead. One remained. The last guard got cover, and began to reload his weapon. Tomoe and Rinko got nervous, as they ran out of ammo. Maya almost froze up, but tried to shoot at the guard anyway, but missed. Himari recovered from her trauma and shoved through the four girls. She held her chin up and sucked up a few tears. 

“I got this.” She said. And got it she did. 

Himari ran across the room like a lightning bolt, and grazed past a bullet to get the perfect shot for the last guard’s head. Himari pulled the trigger and nailed the guard right in the forehead.  
Himari wiped sweat off her face, dropped her gun and immediately broke down. 

Even with the aftermath of the shoot-out, Tomoe was impressed by Himari. 

_Holy crap… Himari just did that… It seems she might be perfect as the leader of afterglow. She really pulled through. I just hope Moca, Ran and Tsugu are okay…_

“Misaki!!! Why!?!?” Himari punched the wall. “ARGH! That hurt like hell! Ugh! I hate this so much! This sucks! This stupid world sucks!”   
Himari put her hands on her head and shook it. She almost looked like she was going insane  
“Hi...mari… Misa...ki...” Rinko let out a whimper and went over to Ako to hug her. Rinko also, felt horrible, but she did what she had to do.

_I can’t believe I froze up…_ Maya thought to herself. She was disappointed with her behavior. She shook her head, though, and went over to the roped up bodies in the middle of the room. I mean, how could she have forgotten, anyway? Maya quickly untied the ropes around Kasumi and Arisa and her eyes shined.   
“Oh my god… you guys are okay. That’s amazing…” 

Arisa was the only one that heard her sigh of relief, as Kasumi was completely _zonked._ The horror of it all made her pass out. She probably wouldn’t remember it when she wakes up, anyway… 

“What. What was all that? Excuse me? WHAT WAS THAT?! WHY WERE WE KIDNAPPED? WHY ARE WE HERE? WHO THE HELL DO THOSE VILLAGERS THINK THEY ARE? MAYA YAMATO ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW!!!!” Arisa screamed. Very, very loud. Hagumi, Aya and Tsugumi entered the room. Maya smiled at Arisa. 

“Glad to see you haven’t changed at all since I last saw you.” Maya was relieved. 

“Holy crud--” Tsugumi stopped speaking and slapped her hand over Hagumi’s eyes. 

“Ah! Tsugumi~ Why are you covering my eyes again~” 

“Because you shouldn’t see this.” Tsugumi was startled by the scene as well, but, she can’t let blood get to her. This is just the kind of challenge she needed- nay, wanted. 

“Wow… it’s, um, abhorrent in here.” Aya was disgusted, but, after all, it’s not like she’s never seen blood before. Her favorite idols were in plenty of horror anime and movies. Certainly this wasn’t traumatizing for her. “Wait, where’s Kanon?”

Tsugumi guided Hagumi outside, and sat her down beside a wall.   
“You… stay here, Hagumi.”   
“Why? I’m not scared of blood.”   
Tsugumi was a little shocked by Hagumi’s smarts. “I can see it. I just want to know what’s going on.” 

“Alright. Ugh… This doesn’t feel right letting a member of Hello, Happy World! Be surrounded in such blood. Wait, speaking of…” Tsugumi looked around the corner and saw Kanon next to Misaki’s corpse.

“Misaki… Misaki… Misaki…! Haaaaaa…” Kanon was broken. She couldn’t handle the sight.   
“Misaki… Misaki what happened? Misaki! Come on, you’re part of Hello, Happy World! What happened to making the world smile… Misaki…”

Hagumi got up and looked at the corpse as well. She moseyed on over to Kanon and pat her on the shoulder. 

“Kanon? What’s wrong?”   
“Hagumi…? Hagumi… oh, Hagumi… no… She’s dead! Misaki’s gone!”   
“Whaddya mean, Kanon? She’s sleeping.”  
“Hagumi… no… Hagumi, she’s gone. She’s GONE! Fueeee…”   
Hagumi tried not to accept reality, but she could no longer avoid it.   
“Gone… um… No, she can’t be…” Hagumi gazed at the corpse once more. Misaki was smiling. “Misaki…”   
Tsugumi was amazed at the fact Misaki’s corpse had a smile. 

“Even in death, Hello, Happy World! Still smiles. That’s… crazy. I guess HaroHapi is on a quest to make the world smile, after all…” Tsugumi got on her knees and paid her respects. “She shot the guards, huh? I guess she got something in return… how unfortunate… Misaki…” Tsugumi shed a singular, depressed tear. “Kanon… Hagumi.” She looked at the two sobbing girls and wondered to herself.   
_What is this place? Wait… I know. I know what this place is. Truly, it must be…_

Tomoe was subconsciously on the same train of thought as Tsugumi. Tomoe, too, wondered.   
_This place...this world… this blood. Truly, this place…_

Tsugumi and Tomoe thought the same. Both of them realized how horrible the situation they were in was. They both came to a conclusion in their mind that they hoped, no, prayed they would never come to. They both began to cry.

_This world… truly, it must be hell._

They’re tears flew faster. 

_Absolute hell._


	17. Moca's thoughts

Chapter 16: Moca’s thoughts

Kaoru was wandering through the woods for quite a bit now. She had gotten some side missions done, and was now sitting at a nice, healthy, 2200 KS. How fleeting. 

“As long as I’ve been wandering around… It’s kind of beautiful here.”   
Kaoru took in the sights, and took her time. Eventually, she found herself upon a cabin in the middle of the woods, surrounded by beautiful evergreen trees and lots of other flora. 

“Oh? What could be in here?” Just as Kaoru was about to turn the door knob, two girls came rushing at her from behind her, shouting greetings.

“Kaoru!! Hi!” Kokoro and Eve showed up and said hello to Kaoru. Kaoru was delighted.  
“Hello, precious kittens… I was just about to go inside of here. You two wait here, and then I can finally catch up with some of my kittens…” Kaoru did her classic pose and whispered “fleeting” to herself. 

“Alright! If anything happens I can protect Kokoro with Bushido!” Eve smiled and puffed up her chest. 

“Wow, Eve! You should join Hello, Happy World! and make the world smile with us!” Kokoro exclaimed 

“I would love to! But I can’t do two bands at once… I’m sorry.” 

_Fufufu… I love seeing my kittens happy._ Kaoru smiled a sweet smile and opened the door to the cabin, and closed it behind her.   
“...!” Kaoru was met with a nightmare.   
In the middle of the room was a corpse, with blood all around it. The corpse had stab wounds all over, and was hanging from a noose.

Of course, this corpse was horrific, but not unidentifiable to Kaoru. No, of course not, how could she forget the corpse’s identity? It was Kaoru’s fellow guitarist, and one of her many kittens. 

Moca Aoba.

In front of Moca’s hanging body was a small diary that was crimson, with a silver design on the front that simply said “NOTE BOOK”. There was a bookmark in it.   
Kaoru was shaken, but she quickly accepted the situation and picked up the diary. How would her kittens react if she didn’t have guts, and wasn’t brave? What kind of queen would she be?   
Kaoru flipped through the pages. Most of the pages contained what looked like poems, with bits of english mixed in all the japanese. Kaoru flipped to the page right before the book marked one. She read it to herself. 

“Entry one: I, Moca Aoba, have may or may not snatched Ran’s notebook~ Since I might be here in Yuhngarde for a while, I might as well record what happens~ So far, it’s been pretty chill. Ran and I met Tae as we were transported to this weird world. We are currently at a Lake. I’ve decided to go and explore on my own a bit. Maybe the great Moca can bring back something cool for Ran~ and maybe Ran will reward me with a little bit of lovin’ for good ol’ Moca~ I’m so great~ But I want bread…”   
Kaoru clenched her teeth after she finished reading the passage.   
To think she was so cheery just not too long ago. What happened? Did she really… No. Whatever. On to the next passage. Kaoru began reading the next page, which is the bookmarked one. Given by the contents of the last passage, Kaoru was not surprised to find the book mark was just one rectangular picture of Ran. Wow…   
Kaoru began to read the next passage.  
“Moca has found a cabin in the woods~ Everything in these woods is so mysterious, yet so cliché at the same time. I’m taking quite a liking to this cabin~ I am gonna check the map and see how Ran is doing~ Or maybe I should look out the window, since I'm not too far from them.” Then, after that last sentence, the normal handwriting cuts off. From there on…

It’s barely formed words and endless scribbles. The page’s bottom half was covered in smudge pencil led and… and blood. within the massacre of lines, Kaoru could barely make out a sentence that was being written continuously, like a grade school detention punishment. Kaoru read it to herself.

“Ran’s not dead.” 

Kaoru was stunned.   
_What happened? Why did all of this happen? How? This…_  
Kaoru couldn’t even think properly. She began to close the notebook and put it in her pocket, but before she did, she noticed a handwriting that differed from Moca’s on the same page. The writing wrote “Gannie”. Kaoru thought about the writing.   
_Gannie? Is that a name? It’s certainly not a japanese name… Whose name could it be? Did they kill Moca?_  
Kaoru took note of these things and left the cabin, greeting Eve and Kokoro as she stepped out.   
“Kittens. How are we?”   
“Smiling!” Kokoro yelled with glee.  
“Hi, Kaoru.” Eve looked at Kaoru intently. This confused Kaoru, but she paid no mind to it.   
“Eve, can I talk to you privately for a second?”   
“Sure.”   
Kaoru pulled Eve aside, and Kokoro played with the butterflies and Squirrels in the forest.   
“Eve. I’ve discovered something tha-”  
“I know already, Kaoru. Moca’s dead. Everyone that has disappeared from the map is… dead.”  
“What?!”   
“Yeah. That’s the only way they’d be gone so soon.”   
“Wow… wait a second… Who’s dissapeared…?”   
“I can list them for you… Hina, Sayo, Tae, Ran, Moca, Yukina, Lisa and _Misaki._ ”  
It had felt like Kaoru died in that moment. She… almost wanted to.   
“Mi-Misaki…?”  
“...!” Eve realized how important Misaki was-- no, all of Hello, Happy World!-- was to Kaoru. “I’m sorry…”   
“Misaki… N-no matter. Those who died… were precious… but we must move on!”   
“Y-yeah…” Eve sighed. “Hina...Sayo…” 

“It’ll be okay, Eve. Let’s grab Kokoro… and go somewhere, I guess…?”   
Eve was shocked to see Kaoru so… well, also shocked. Aimless. Confused.   
“Well, why not go to the mountains, I guess? We should look at our missions too.”   
“You’re right.”   
Kaoru and Eve joined back up with Kokoro.   
“Yuhngarde board!” They all shouted.   
Kaoru read her mission. “Go to an area located in the corners of the map: 350 KS”   
“That would bring me up to 2000, right? I had 1350, after mysteriously getting down to 1100 and completing another mission before, got 200 from my last mission…” She looked at her wrist. Sure enough, it said 1550 KS. 

“Alright, then.

Mountains it is."


	18. Right hand man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the weirdly lengthed hiatus. The posting schedule has always been indefinite, but I'll try to post more often than once every bajillion years lol...

Chapter 17: Right hand man 

"Chisato." 

"Y-yes."

Chisato and her master once again sat together in a space of nothingness, to discuss Chisato's next assignment. 

"You've been very helpful to me recently. Well done." The Grandmaster looked at Chisato, delighted.

"Not like I wanted to." Chisato snarled.

"I have another assignment for you. It actually has two parts. The first part is this: two of your friends, Rimi and Saya, are currently stuck in a ditch that was triggered by a trap some villagers from a Yuhngardian town set up. Go ahead and help them out." The Grandmaster smirked.

"Is this gonna get someone killed again? I don't like the games you're playing with me, here." Chisato clenched her fist. 

"I don't know, will someone die? Hehehe." The Grandmaster laughed. "The second part is important too. These two parts aren't necessarily related by the way, I just need them both done right now." 

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Tell me what I need to do already, dipsh-" 

Out of nowhere, the creepy, shadowy figure Chisato so fondly recognizes from when she was first brought to this world appeared. The figure cut her off. "Don't take that tone with your master."

Chisato spat at him. "Whatever."

The Grandmaster began to speak again. "There's been a murderer going around recently. I need you to go talk to them about their crimes."

"H-huh? What'll happen to me? What do I even sa-" 

"'Keep at your spree, Erma.' Is what you'll say."

"E-eh?"

"She won't hurt you. You're my right hand man- er, woman, after all. Instead, she might give you a present. Or maybe not. Either way, I need you to tell her that."

"Isn't that just encouraging more murders? Has any of the girls been hurt yet?!" 

"Is it encouraging murders? Hehehe. Ah, and I'll leave you to find out on your own if anyone has been hurt."

"Now hold o-"   
_Poof._

"W-where am I now?" Chisato checked her map.   
"Southwest of Der… Deer… Dergnuh… I give up. Is this where the pit is?" Chisato took a few steps forward and looked down. Sure enough, it was, and when she looked down she found two girls trapped. It was Rimi and Saya. Chisato put on a happy expression and called for them. "Riiiiiimi! Saaaaya!" 

The two girls turned around. Rimi smiled widely. "We're saved! Chisato!"

Saya felt a sense of relief. _Yes! Finally!_ She thought to herself. _Where has Chisato been all this time? Actually, where has ANYONE been?_

"Guys! I'll pull you up!" Chisato grinned at them and outstretched her arm. She helped Rimi out of the pit, then Saya shortly after. 

"Thanks so much, Chisato! Rimi and I were really scared, Haha…" Saya bowed to Chisato to show gratitude. 

Rimi blushed. "I thought we were goners…" 

Chisato felt a strange sensation. _It feels amazing to finally interact with the others again… what am I doing with this whole grandmaster kerfuffle? I guess I better head to my castle as an excuse to separate from them quickly… I can't have them catching onto what's been happening recently… I'm sure Rimi isn't smart enough to figure it out, but Saya could be an issue. I don't think she is the type of person to barge in on someone's castle, though._ "I better be off now, then. I've been exploring the world. Take care, now!"

Saya looked baffled. "B-but…!" Chisato disappeared in front of their eyes.

Then, Chisato found herself on top of a cold mountain, in front of a shack. 

"What am I doing here? Did Grandmaster bring me here?" Chisato noticed a sign put up on the shack's door. It read "all visitors welcome!" _Must be the owner's handwriting._ Chisato guessed.

Meanwhile… 

Kaoru, Kokoro and Eve found themselves at the bottom of the mountain.   
"This must be it!" Eve shouted proudly. "We haven't gotten our KS yet, tho. We might as well explore!" 

Kokoro smiled and nodded her head at Eve. "That's an excellent idea! Let's explore, Eve!" Kokoro grabbed Eve's hands and began to dance with her. 

Eve got excited, forgetting the Moca situation instantly, and smiled. "That's so bushido!" 

Kaoru quietly frowned and watched the two. _Eve forgot already, huh? Oh well. I need to stay focused, then. I want to find out what happened, but KS might be more important at the moment. I'll put on a smile for my kittens and face the future confidently._ "Alright, kittens. Let's move! Like shakespeare says, um, it's… you know."   
Kokoro nodded and Eve chuckled loudly. _Wait, what did Shakespeare say about things like this again?_ Kaoru shook her head. _I should take my mind off these things right now._ Kaoru began to ascend the mountain with her two kittens.


	19. The shack's resident

Chapter 18: The shack's resident

Chisato entered the shack without a second thought. After all, if she hesitated there would be consequences. She treaded carefully, and called out as she opened the door.

"Hello?" 

Awaiting her was not what she expected.

It was a small old lady, rocking in a creaky wooden chair, knitting. 

"Oh, hello, young lady. What might your name be?" The old lady smiled. 

Chisato began to wonder if she had the right place. _Of course this is it, though… he sent me here, right?_

Chisato coughed.   
"Um, my name is Chisato Shirasagi. I come with a message for you." The old lady's squinted eyes widened and she tilted her head in curiosity. "Keep up your spree,

 

Erma." 

Suddenly, the old lady's right eye glazed over. 

Then, it turned red. 

"Teehee. Thanks for encouraging me." Erma's ear twitched. Then her hand did. She grinned. "I certainly am getting riled up now. I have a sort of, short-term memory, you see. I almost forgot to do something." Erma got up from her chair, quite surprisingly fast, and turned to the wall. She knocked on it, and a chunk of the wall fell out, kind of like a trapdoor. It revealed a lever, and Erma pulled it. She then reset it immediately. "There. All done. Chisato, dear, take this scarf, will you? Give it to a _friend of yours_ for me, okay?" 

Chisato was startled. Why is she so casual about this? I'm confused… well, if she really wants me to give it to a friend, I guess who better than Kanon? I'll find her after this.  
"A-alright, Erma. I shall. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Chisato." The old lady said menacingly. She gently handed the scarf to Chisato, and Chisato exited the shack. Then…

_Poof._ Gone. 

Meanwhile… 

Back at Der'gnirreh, there was no one in the town besides the 8 girls who went to rescue Kasumi and Arisa. Oh, and obviously Kasumi and Arisa were there too. They shared what they knew about their current situation. (After everyone had calmed down about Misaki to the best of their ability.) The 11 of them then split into two groups to explore the world more and get missions done, and just try to escape while they could. 

Group 1:   
Aya, Hagumi, Kasumi, Arisa, Himari.

Group 2:   
Rinko, Ako, Tomoe, Maya, Kanon, Tsugumi. 

Aya's group went north, Rinko's group went East. 

 

Aya's group traveled on.   
"Where are we going, exactly?" Himari questioned. 

Aya stopped and thought for a moment. "I guess wherever the wind takes us. Man, this whole situation is a real bummer… People have actually died." She said. "And they… were friends…" Aya began to tear up, which was something she constantly tried to avoid. She knew she tended to cry a lot when things got even remotely emotional, so she tried her hardest to push back her tears. 

"I guess we just push on, anyway, right? Not much else we can do." Arisa added. "Besides, as sad as it is, we can't bring them back. They're gone forever… like Misaki… and there are several girls we don't even know the whereabouts of… Chisato, Lisa, Yukina…" Arisa clenched her fist. "And the deaths of Ran, Tae, Misaki, Sayo. Even as stupid as that good for nothing Tae was, she was still a good friend. And so dedicated to Poppin' Party… now she's gone." 

Kasumi whimpered. "It's not fair! None of this should have happened. I know! It must be a nightmare. If I drift back to sleep, maybe I'll wake up. Arisaaaaa~ hold me~" Kasumi jumped at Arisa.

"Hold yourself." Arisa quickly dodged. Kasumi face planted. "What are you, 3 years old?" 

"Arisaaaaaa… so harsh…" 

"There are more important problems at hand! Get it together, Kasu-dead-meat."

Himari let out a giggle. Though she probably shouldn't have. "I guess that's one way to lighten the mood." 

While this conversation was happening with the four girls, Hagumi ran next to them, obliviously, chasing a butterfly. "Kasubro! Come chase this butterfly with me!" 

"Alright, Hagubro, I'm coming! Charge!!!" 

And off they went. 

"Immature children." Arisa scoffed. "Absolute deadweight." Himari frowned.


End file.
